Article-working apparatus



G. J. LAMOUREUX ARTICLE-WORKING APPARATUS Filed'Dec. 21, 1954 March 17, 195.9

"lll Il United lStates Patent O 2,87 7,496 ARTICLE-WORKIN G APPARATUS Gilbert J. Lamoureux, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 21, 1954, Serial No. 476,654 2 Claims. (Cl. 18,19)

This invention relates to article-working apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for forming embossed plastic washers.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus for simultaneously forming plastic washers with em- A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus for forming embossed slit conical washers.

An apparatus illustrating certain features of the invention may include a pair of relatively movable dies for sequentially cutting a disc from a plastic sheet and embossing the central portion of the disc. Further means conical end surface and a circular cutting edge 31 which cooperates with a fixed cutting edge 32 of a lower fixed blanking die 33. A drawing sleeve or die 41 having a frustoconical end portion is mounted slidably in a bore 42 in the sleeve 24. A ange 45 of the sleeve 41 is urged continuously downwardly in a counterbore 46 in a spring 47 pressing at its upper end thereagainst a head 48 on a perforating punch 49. A

or lifting roller xed to the sleeve 24.

When a lever 71 is moved downwardly, it presses against the head 48 to press the punch 49 through a perforating opening 70 of a xed perforating and drawing 2,877,496 Patented Mar. 17, 1959 punch 72 to punch a disc 85 from the sheet, the sleeves 24 and 41 abutting a forming and stripping punch or sleeve 73 having a frustoconical end surface urged upward- 14 and presses it against the punch 73. The sleeve 24 then blanks the washer 10 and pushes the punch 73 downwardly against the action of the spring 74, and the key the punch 73 to the die 33.

The above-described apparatus serves to precisely form, draw, cut and slit the washers 10 and is simple and inexpensive in construction and highly eiective in its operation.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A plastic material working apparatus, which comprises a xed perforating and drawing punch having an solid cylindrical punch with a reduced cylindrical end section, a drawing sleeve slidably mounted on said solid cylindrical punch in sliding contact with the larger cylinsurface, a cutting sleeve slidably mounted in concentric relation to the drawing sleeve and having frustoconical end surfaces, a stationary perforating and drawing punch with a cylindrical end portion to cooperate with the outer surface of the reduced portion of the cylindrical punch to perforate plastic sheet material and to form an embossed portion to project from the surface of the disc to be formed and to be adjacent the perforated opening of the disc, a stripping punch slidably mounted in concentric relation to the stationary perforating and drawing punch and in alignment with the cutting sleeve, said stripping punch having a frustoconical end surface to cooperate with the frusto conical end surface of the drawing sleeve and cutting sleeve to grip the plastic ma- 15 terial to be formed therebetween, said stripping punch having a slot to permit a stationary knife blade to pass therein, a blanking die slidably mounted in concentric relation to the stripping punch so as to cooperate with the cutting sleeve to cut the blank from plastic sheet material, a knife rigidly mounted to the said blanking die and projecting into the slot in the stripping punch and cooperating with the frustoconical surface of the cutting punch to slit the disc radially for a predetermined distance, lost-motion means connecting the solid cylindrical punch to the drawing sleeve and the cutting sleeve, and means for heating the drawing sleeve and punches to 10 soften the plastic material.

References Cited in the le of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

